


Cat Got Your Tongue

by mewrose



Series: Cat Chat [2]
Category: Persona 4, Persona 5
Genre: Yu loves cats, mentions of Persona 4: Dancing All Night
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:14:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25042246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mewrose/pseuds/mewrose
Summary: The Phantom Thieves try and figure out who Yu is and why he can hear Morgana.
Series: Cat Chat [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1813609
Comments: 41
Kudos: 396
Collections: Quality Persona Fics





	1. Like Herding Cats

**Aoyama-Itchome**

**Before School**

**Joker:** So I just met a random guy in the train station who can hear Mona talk.

 **Panther** : What??

 **Skull** : For real?

 **Fox** : How is that possible?

 **Queen** : Do you think that means he’s been to the Metaverse?

 **Noir** : Then could he be that Black Mask you mentioned?

 **Panther** : If he was, do you think he’d just give himself away like that?

 **Noir** : Maybe he doesn’t realize why it’s significant that he can hear Mona-chan?

 **Oracle** : Gimme deets on him, I’ll look him up.

 **Joker** : He said his name is Yu Narukami, and he’s a student at Tokyo University. He seemed to like Mona more than me, and for some reason he has grey hair even though he doesn’t look that old.

 **Oracle** : Got it, commencing search!

 **Skull** : Grey hair ain’t that weird, Queen’s sis has grey hair.

 **Queen** : It’s ash blond, not grey.

 **Skull** : Whatever, looks grey to me.

 **Oracle** : Can confirm his hair’s grey, and in a dorky bowl cut. Look, there’s a video of him dancing in an idol concert a few years back.  
  
 **Oracle** : LMBfest.mp4

 **Skull** : Holy shit, is that Risette?!

 **Fox** : Who is Risette?

 **Skull** : Dude, how do you not know Risette? The ads for her latest album are all over the Shibuya train station!

 **Fox** : Perhaps I may have noticed some posters in passing, but I prefer to spend my time people watching rather than studying advertisements.

 **Skull** : I ain’t asking you to study the damn things, just, like, pay attention to what’s around you.

 **Queen** : Forget Risette. Oracle, did you find anything else?

 **Oracle** : Aside from that, he looks kind of boring. His grades are all Rank SS, no signs of unusual activities. But his social media is full of cat pics. He seems obsessed with them.

 **Joker** : Like I said, he seemed to like Mona more than me.

 **Noir** : So at least that appears to be typical behavior for him, and he didn’t focus on Mona-chan because he’s unusual.

 **Joker** : Actually, he didn’t care at all that Mona could talk. Just started having a regular conversation with him, and claimed he’d seen weirder things.

 **Panther** : Then maybe he HAS seen the Metaverse. There’s some really crazy stuff in there.

 **Skull** : Yeah, no kidding.

 **Queen** : And just because he shows nothing unusual in public doesn’t mean there isn’t anything unusual going on in private. 

**Joker** : Right. Oracle, keep seeing what you can dig up. I got his number so I can talk with him again later, but the more we know, the better.

 **Oracle** : I’m on it!

 **Queen** : Class is about to start, so everyone off your phones. Oracle, fill us in later.

 **Skull** : Ugh, fine Miss Prez. Later.

* * *

**Shujin Academy**

**Lunchtime**

**Joker** : OK Oracle, anything new?

 **Oracle** : Intel gathering complete! The boring-looking guy actually had some interesting stuff a few years back.

 **Oracle** : So it turns out he actually is friends with Risette. 4 years ago she took a break from doing idol stuff and ended up living in this middle-of-nowhere town.

 **Oracle** : Cat boy was living in that town at the same time.

 **Queen** : Oracle, I said to forget Risette.

 **Oracle** : Overruled, this is important.

 **Oracle** : They were both living there for only one year. That year there was a string of people disappearing, then suddenly reappearing without any explanation. 

**Oracle** : Risette was one of them. She and most of the others who disappeared became friends with cat boy, and they’re all dancing in that concert video.

 **Panther** : Wait, wasn’t the first Detective Prince in that video?

 **Oracle** : Yeah, she was one of the last ones to disappear.

 **Skull** : Wait, she? Why’s she called the Detective Prince if she’s a girl?

 **Oracle** : Shut up and let me get to the good part!

 **Oracle** : So before the people started disappearing, there were a couple of mysterious deaths. Someone was found dead, hanging from a telephone pole, and they could never figure out what killed her.

 **Oracle** : A little while later it happened again. And both of them happened not long after cat boy got to town.

 **Skull** : Holy shit.

 **Oracle** : There wasn’t any sign of mental shutdowns or anything, but late that year the whole town started acting weird. The town was full of a strange fog that didn’t leave for weeks, and everyone seemed to be panicking about it.

 **Joker** : Acting weird how? Anything like the psychotic breakdown victims?

 **Oracle** : Kind of. It’s hard to tell, there was a crazy amount of rumors going around, so it’s hard to pin down what was going on, but some of the rumors sounded similar.

 **Fox** : So it would not be unreasonable to conclude that some form of unusual events were occurring around Narukami.

 **Noir** : It seems that is so. Has there been anything else strange around him?

 **Oracle** : Well, there was that concert, the Love Meets Bonds Festival. It was Risette’s comeback performance, and she got cat boy and all her other friends to be backup dancers. Also the idol group Kanamin Kitchen was supposed to perform.

 **Oracle** : But on the day of, nobody could find any of the performers besides Kanamin. So she somehow ended up dancing with cat boy’s smol cousin.

 **Oracle** : Kanekoko.mp4

 **Panther** : Aww, she’s so cute!

 **Oracle** : Then everyone showed up all at once for the final act, and they all started dancing like nothing had happened. 

**Queen** : So his friends have a history of disappearing and reappearing with no explanation?

 **Skull** : Yeah, that ain’t suspicious at all.

 **Fox** : On the contrary, I would say it’s quite ominous.

 **Skull** : Dude, I was being sarcastic!

 **Noir** : So from the sound of it, we can’t rule out the possibility that he has access to the Metaverse. 

**Queen** : Agreed. Joker, what do you think of all this?

 **Joker** : I think we need to know more about him. I’ll talk to him again, see if I can find anything new.

 **Queen** : Understood. Be careful, and let us know if there’s anything we can do to help.

 **Oracle** : Oh, I can listen in through your phone! And if he triggers any red flags I can call everyone to zerg rush him.

 **Skull** : That ain’t a bad idea. I’m not sure I like the idea of you being alone with such a suspicious guy.

 **Joker** : Mona will be with me. And if the guy’s that obsessed with cats, Mona could probably distract him at any moment by looking cute.

 **Fox** : Mona, we shall trust you to safeguard our leader with your feline wiles.

 **Skull** : Dude, only you could make the idea of a cat being cute sound creepy.

 **Joker** : I’ll let you all know when I’ll be talking with him. 

* * *

**Aoyama-Itchome**

**After School**

**Ren** : Hey, you free to meet up and chat?

 **Yu** : Sure, when and where?


	2. See Which Way the Cat Jumps

“ _ Everyone ready _ ?” Ren texted to the group chat. As everyone sent in their confirmations, he mentally reviewed their preparations. Futaba was actively listening in through his phone, ready to monitor his conversation. Morgana was, of course, in his school bag. The rest of the Thieves were scattered around Shibuya, out of sight and acting casual. If Futaba heard Ren say “showtime,” that was the signal for everyone to come running. He’d arranged to meet Narukami by the Buchiko statue, which was such a public place that he shouldn’t be able to try anything. He’d worried that the ever-present crowd in the area would make it hard for Futaba to hear them, but she assured him she had a noise-canceling program that should filter out the worst of the background noise.

“Alright, let’s go,” Ren muttered to Morgana, then tucked his phone in the pocket of his blazer, figuring it’d make it easier for Futaba to hear their conversation than if it was in his pants pocket. Then he schooled his face into a neutral expression and headed for the statue.

It wasn’t hard to find that distinctive head of grey hair. Narukami was standing by one of the benches near the statue, and Ren took a moment to look over the area to make sure there was nothing unusual around. It just seemed to be the typical afternoon crowd of commuters, students, tourists and the like, so he continued on.

When Narukami noticed Ren, he smiled and waved, then immediately glanced towards his bag. Morgana was tucked in out of sight at the moment, and Ren noticed that Narukami looked slightly disappointed. He stopped before the older man and said “Hey there,” which prompted Morgana to stick his head out. Narukami’s face immediately broke out into a delighted grin. Wow, he really did only have eyes for Morgana.

Narukami managed to drag his eyes up to look at Ren and said, “Hi, how was your day?” Ren just shrugged and said “Fine,” which was all that most people expected to hear anyway. Then Narukami looked back at Morgana and asked, “And how about you, Morgana?”

The cat blinked a couple times, then echoed, “...Fine.” He probably wasn’t used to answering pleasantries like that, since the only people who could hear him were his friends, and they were all too casual with each other for that sort of thing.

That seemed to be enough for Narukami though, since he nodded and looked back up at Ren. “So, anything in particular you want to talk about?” he asked.

Ren shrugged again, then nodded to a nearby bench that happened to be vacant. “Wanna sit down?”

“Sure,” Narukami agreed, then they headed over to it. As they sat down, Morgana hopped out of the bag to sit between them, which made the man grin again.

“Say, I know you’re not a cat, but do you mind if I pet you anyway?” Narukami asked, lifting one hand hopefully.

Morgana studied him for a moment, tail twitching slowly from side to side. “...Well, at least you asked. OK,” he agreed eventually.

“Thanks,” Narukami said, then reached out to gently start scratching around Morgana’s head and neck. The cat was tense to start with, but quickly relaxed under the careful massaging. 

“Oh, you’re good at this,” Morgana said, leaning into the hand. “This is way nicer than most people I’ve dealt with.”

With Narukami thoroughly occupied, Ren took a few moments to study him. Aside from the unusual hair color, he looked like an average guy, wearing a blue button-down shirt and black slacks. Nothing about his appearance indicated there was anything strange about him, but then again you couldn’t tell who any of the Phantom Thieves were just by looking at them in the real world. Though aside from his appearance...there was a faint feeling that this guy was somehow familiar, but Ren couldn’t place why. Not like they’d met before, but that he should recognize this guy anyway. But whatever it was, it didn’t give him any reason to trust the guy. If anything, it made him more wary.

Ren waited a moment to see if the man would say anything, but he seemed focused on the cat. Looks like he would have to start the conversation. He’d kind of gotten used to random acquaintances just opening up to him.

Deciding to start with small talk, he asked, “Looks like you really like cats, huh?” Morgana stiffened and started to grumble, but then Narukami found the spot by Morgana’s ear that he really liked, and the grumble turned into a purr as the cat practically melted.

Narukami had a really gentle look in his eyes as he answered, “Yeah, my friends back home used to call me ‘the cat whisperer.’ I probably knew every cat in town, including all the strays. I’d always stop to pet them, or catch fish in the river to feed them. More than once the number of cats kept increasing in places I would hang out.” He moved to scratching along Morgana’s spine, and the cat arched his back to meet him.

Not anything Ren needed to know, but at least the guy seemed relaxed instead of on guard. Maybe he could dodge around to what he really wanted to know. “Of all the cats you’ve met before, have you ever met any that could talk?” Morgana didn’t even bother protesting this time, probably too distracted. 

Narukami shook his head. “Nope, not with words anyway. Just in general which kind of meow means ‘I’m hungry’ or ‘I’m bored’ or ‘I’m about to throw up.’ You spend any length of time with cats, you learn that last one quick,” he added with a chuckle.

Ren was really glad that was not something he had to worry about with Morgana.

“You said you’ve seen stranger things, though,” Ren commented.

Narukami hummed in agreement, said “Yup,” and shifted to use both hands to scratch Morgana as the cat flopped onto his side.

Ren managed not to raise an eyebrow at the response. Considering how chatty he’d been with the other questions, the one-word answer was suspicious. “Like what?” he prompted.

Narukami didn’t answer immediately, seemingly focused on massaging Morgana’s cheeks with his thumbs. Eventually he answered, “Stuff strange enough that you probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

It would be hard to keep pressing that line of inquiry, without potentially looking suspicious. Maybe if one of the girls were here they could plead cutely with him, but he couldn’t pull that off without looking weird. So instead he looked curious and said, “Try me.” But Narukami only shrugged, not taking his eyes off Morgana. Looked like he wasn’t going to get anywhere with this.

Abruptly Morgana sat up and started washing his face. Narukami chuckled and sat back. “When a cat’s decided he’s had enough attention, you just have to let him be, right?” he observed.

Ren hummed a non committal reply as he considered his options. Should he go back to small talk and try to find another way to get at what he wanted to know? Try something more direct? Make a joke out of it?

Morgana paused in washing his face to look up at Ren, a question in his eyes. Yes, the most direct route was the most likely way to get some information. It was a risk, but there were some things he could bring up without mentioning the Phantom Thieves. And they’d already agreed beforehand that if they had to go that route, Morgana should pose the question in order to keep anyone else from overhearing it. So he gave Morgana the barest nod.

The cat blinked and looked back at Narukami and asked, “Hey, does the word Persona mean anything to you?”

Narukami actually looked slightly surprised at that, but answered readily enough. “Well, there’s a couple definitions of the word,” he said. “One is a sort of social facade, an act or mask a person puts on to fit in a role. Someone may have several such personas, such as a stage persona, a business persona, and a casual persona. And the other…” He paused for a moment, looking contemplative, before continuing. “The other meaning is a manifestation of a person's psyche, which can be summoned for various effects, such as combat or navigation.” He smiled expectantly then, looking back and forth between Morgana and Ren. 

Ren was careful to keep his poker face on and said nothing. With the fancy vocabulary he couldn’t be 100% certain yet, but it sounded like Narukami meant what Ren thought he meant.

Morgana’s tail was twitching now. “So how would you define Shadow, then?” he asked.

Narukami grinned at that. “Oh, “shadow” has lots of definitions. There’s the obvious patch of darkness caused by something getting in the way of light, or it could mean a small amount, or an inseparable companion, or as a verb it means-”

“How about Shadow in relation to Persona, then?” Morgana interrupted.

Narukami shifted to a more knowing smile. “Well in that case, it’d be a being formed from the negative thoughts and feelings of humanity.”

Bingo. It was almost certain he knew about the Metaverse, then. Ren didn’t want to say anything about it out loud in public though, so he asked, “With that in mind, what’s the strangest thing you’ve ever seen?”

Narukami had to actually think about that for a few moments, but eventually said, “Well...that would be the time I had to teach Shadows the value of love and friendship by dancing for them.” 

Both Ren and Morgana just stared at the man. Ren was trying to figure out if he was for real or if he was just messing with them now. 

“...What.” Morgana managed to say.

Narukami smiled serenely. “It’s true,” he said. “A few years back some friends and I got dragged into a sort of pocket dimension by a being that didn’t understand true bonds and was essentially brainwashing Shadows into thinking they were its friends. It was impossible to fight in that place, so we had to convey our emotions to the Shadows by dancing to help them understand the power of friendship.”

...If any of that was true, it seemed unlikely that this guy was behind the mental shutdowns or psychotic breakdowns. Granted he did essentially admit he’d had a Persona for a few years, and the mental shutdowns had started two years ago. But could anyone who could seriously talk about “the power of friendship” with a straight face really be behind something like that? It was possible he was lying, but he seemed to have been straight with them so far. When he’d been evasive, it was obvious, and this was not that.

“How about you?” Narukami said, finally asking a question of his own. “What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen?”

Ren still didn’t want to give this guy any information about the Thieves or the Metaverse. Even if he was a dork who knew about Personas, that wasn’t any reason to trust him yet. So he just said, “I’ve seen Morgana turn into a bus.”

That made Narukami grin and look down at Morgana. “Really?” he said with interest. “Did you look like the Catbus from that one movie?”

Morgana shook his head. “Nah, just a regular bus. Wheels, headlights and all. Black with a yellow stripe.”

Narukami actually looked disappointed at that. “Aw. I bet you’d make a cute Catbus.” He reached out to scratch Morgana’s head again, and the cat permitted it.

While the man was occupied again, Ren considered the information and where he should go from here. He still couldn't tell if this guy was a threat, a potential ally, or what. Maybe there was a way they could get useful information from him…

His thoughts were interrupted when Narukami said quietly, “If you’re asking about Personas, I take it there’s another Shadow-related incident that’s caused a number of new Persona-users to awaken. Right?” He glanced up at Ren for conformation.

Ren hesitated a moment, then nodded.

Narukami’s smile this time was both knowing and sympathetic. “Not the first time that’s happened. And it always seems to be high school kids.” He looked Ren straight in the eyes and said, “It’s never easy, but trust in your friends and the bonds you’ve made, and I’m sure you can get through it.” Then he turned back to Morgana and continued rubbing the cat’s head in silence.

This was not something Ren had expected. More Persona-users? Narukami and the friends he’d mentioned were probably one group, but the implication was there was at least one more. That left the possibility that any of an unknown number of Persona-users could be involved with the Metaverse. 

...But this guy was seriously talking about “the power of friendship” again? Though with that mention of bonds...he wondered if Narukami knew about his confidants. His bonds with those did make his Personas stronger, so it was no stretch to assume that cultivating those bonds would help him get through everything. And “everything” was implied to be something a bit more over-reaching than changing the hearts of individual criminals.

Ren really wanted to find out what else this guy knew, but they were getting to the limit of what he’d comfortably discuss in public. He was pretty sure at this point that Mr. Friendship wasn’t actively a danger to them so…

“Hey,” Ren said, making Narukami pause in scratching Morgana to look up at him. “Let’s continue this conversation elsewhere. Wanna meet my friends?”

Narukami smiled again. “I’d be delighted. Let’s go,” he said, starting to get up. But Ren shook his head, making him pause.

“Not now,” Ren said. “If we’re going to the place I want to meet up, we need to make some preparations first. How about tomorrow afternoon?”

Narukami studied Ren seriously, then asked, “Do I need to bring anything?”

Ren glanced at the people around him, hoped that nobody was paying too close attention to what they were saying, then said quietly, “A weapon, if you have one.” He received a solemn nod in reply. Seems like Narukami had some idea of what he was in for, then. Ren jerked his thumb at the nearby train station and said, “Meet you at the Shibya station tomorrow. I’ll text you a time later.”

Narukami nodded once more and said, “I’ll leave you to get ready, then.” He gave Morgana one last rub around the ears, then stood up. “See you tomorrow,” he said with a wave, then left.

Morgana watched him go, then looked up at Ren. “So you’re bringing him with us to Mementos?” the cat asked.

“Yeah,” Ren answered. “I need to know what he knows, and that’s the best place to find out.”

“Hmm. Your call, leader,” Morgana said, and climbed back into Ren’s bag.

Ren pulled out his phone to find that Futaba had been giving a running commentary of the conversation, and all his friends had chimed in with their own comments. He skimmed through them, then typed out his own texts.

**Joker** : OK everyone, we’re going to Mementos with Narukami tomorrow.

**Joker** : I don’t think he’s our enemy, but I’m not sure yet if he’s an ally, so I need you all to protect your real identities.

**Joker** : Everyone else will head into Mementos first, then I’ll bring Narukami in last. Make sure to stick to code names while we’re there.

As everyone sent their acknowledgements and continued chattering, Ren looked around the station square once more, but Narukami was already out of sight. He expected tomorrow’s Mementos run would be enlightening, one way or another.


	3. More Than One Way to Skin a Cat

Yu glanced at his watch as he made his way through the square outside the Shibuya train station. Right on time. He did not want to miss meeting Amamiya’s friends, who he presumed were Persona-users. And he especially did not want to miss visiting the unspecified place they’d be going to, which he assumed bore some resemblance to the old TV World. 

Out of nostalgia, he’d dressed for the day in an outfit similar to what he wore back when he and his own friends would explore the TV World. He didn’t have his Yasogami High outfit anymore, but he’d picked out a pair of dark slacks and a blazer in a similar style to his old uniform, with the blazer left open to show the white button-down shirt underneath. Over one shoulder he’d slung a long, thin bag meant for carrying skis, which actually held his sheathed katana. He hadn’t used the thing in years, but now he was glad he’d kept it.

Amamiya was just inside the train station, leaning against a pillar. Yu raised his hand to wave to the boy and jogged over, noting that Morgana wasn’t visible but that Amamiya was carrying his school bag again.

“Good afternoon!” Yu greeted as he approached the boy.

Amamiya nodded and said, “Hey. You ready?”

“Of course,” Yu answered, an excited light in his eyes.

Amamiya just nodded again, pushed off from the pillar to stand upright, and made a ‘follow me’ gesture. As Yu followed, he quickly realized they weren’t heading towards any particular train line, and instead seemed to be heading for a passage off to one side where there were few people. He watched in curiosity as the boy paused, looked around, then pulled out his phone and tapped something on it.

Instantly the world warped, with black and red ripples seeming to fill his vision. The optical effect and the feeling of the world shifting both strongly reminded him of entering the TV World. When everything steadied, they still seemed to be in a tiled hall of the train station, but the lighting was dark and tinted with red. Amamiya was suddenly wearing a long black coat, and when he glanced over his shoulder to look back at him, Yu noticed he was wearing a white mask. Beside him stood a black-and-white creature resembling a cat-like mascot.

Yu wondered where it had come from before remembering there was only one black-and-white cat-like creature that he had seen with Amamiya. Taking an educated guess, he asked, “...Morgana?”

“Hmm, you’re sharp,” the creature said, nodding approvingly. “This is the form I take in the Metaverse.” He was cute this way. Yu wouldn’t mind having a little phone charm or plush toy that looked like this version of Morgana. Maybe he could get Kanji to sew him one, if he could manage to get a picture to work from.

Dragging his thoughts away from the catlike creature to focus on what he’d said, Yu noted, “Then that means this place is called the Metaverse,” to which Morgana nodded again.

“You’ve never been?” Amamiya asked as he started walking again.

Yu and Morgana followed him as Yu answered, “No, not here. But years ago I used to visit a place that felt similar. I didn’t use a phone to get there like you seem to, though.”

“Oh?” Amamiya asked, glancing back at him again. “How’d you get there?”

“I jumped into a TV,” Yu responded.

There was a pause, then Amamiya gave a sharp bark of laughter. “Hah! Now that would be something to see,” he commented, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

They turned a corner and the passageway opened to a wide staircase leading deeper in the train station. Just in front of the stairs, Amamiya spun on his heel to face Yu, his coat flaring out from the movement, and flung out his red-gloved hands to indicate their surroundings. “Well then, welcome to the Metaverse! We call his place Mementos,” he said, his toothy smirk widening. Then he hopped backwards onto the center handrail of the stairs and slid down it like a skateboarder. He landed neatly on his feet and sprung forward to jog down the hall below them, heading towards the voices of several other people who could be heard chatting together.

Morgana scurried after the boy as Yu followed at a more moderate place. It seemed Amamiya’s demeanor changed completely here. Where in the real world he appeared guarded, taciturn and a bit suspicious, here his posture and actions conveyed that he was confident, carefree and perhaps had a flare for drama. A man of different personas indeed. He would not be surprised if that was true in more than one sense, because there was something about the boy that felt familiar. It reminded Yu of himself.

By the time Yu got to the end of the hallway, the voices had stopped, and he found a group of people watching him approach. They all appeared to be teens, though at first glance it was hard to tell because they were all wearing masks and elaborate outfits. Judging by how Amamiya and Morgana’s appearances had suddenly changed, Yu would not be surprised if those outfits just appeared when they entered the Metaverse.

Yu glanced down at himself as he stopped a short distance away from the group, confirmed that his clothes were the same, then joked, “Nice outfits. I feel like I’m underdressed.” 

Nobody seemed to find it amusing. Instead, a girl with long orange hair asked, “You don’t have a mask?”

Yu tilted his head in puzzlement and asked, “No, should I have brought one?”

Instead of answering, another girl with blonde pigtails and a red cat mask asked, “But you have a Persona, right?”

Yu didn’t understand what the two had to do with each other, but nodded and said, “That’s right.”

Another girl with short brown hair and a metal mask continued the line of questioning. “Then how do you summon your Persona without a mask?”

Yu had to take a moment to parse that, then his face lit up with realization as he said, “Oh! So that must be how it works for you guys.”

In answer, Amamiya smirked again and snatched off his mask. “Persona!” he shouted, and the mask was consumed in a burst of blue flame. Above him appeared the figure of a blond girl wearing a blue-and-white dress. She hovered for a moment before disappearing, and the mask reappeared on Amamiya’s face in another flash of blue flame.

Yu grinned widely at the sight. He recognized that Persona, and it all but confirmed his suspicions. “Nice! This is how I do it,” he said, and held a hand in front of him, palm-up. It had been years since he’d used a Persona, but as soon as he called for it, a blue card appeared above his hand. He swiftly crushed it and shouted “Alice!”

He noticed Amamiya’s eyes grow wide at the name, even before the Persona appeared above him. When the others saw the same blond girl appear, they gaped in shock. Alice silently giggled and did a little curtsy for her audience before disappearing.

The group of teens burst out with varying expressions of shock and surprise, with the question, “How can you have the same Persona as him?” catching Yu’s attention.

“I’m a Wild Card too,” he explained, which quieted them down, but just seemed to make them confused. So he elaborated, “Someone who can use multiple Personas.”

That caught them off guard. A boy in a skull mask shouted “Huh? So it’s not just Joker who can do that?” and looked at Amamiya in shock. 

It was clear who he meant, but Yu still asked, “Joker?”

Morgana explained, “We use code names in the Metaverse. I’m Mona, he’s Joker,” he said, pointing up at the black-hared boy. Yu had to admit that the name Joker seemed to fit the boy’s current persona.

The others took the cue to introduce themselves. “Skull,” “Fox,” “Queen,” “Panther,” “Noir,” “Oracle,” they said in turn. For most of them their names matched their appearances, so hopefully they’d be easy to remember.

“Nice to meet you all, I’m Yu Narukami,” he said politely.

“So, Wild Cards,” Queen said, dragging them back to the earlier topic. “There are more?”

Yu nodded. “This is the first time I’ve met another one, but I’ve heard it implied that there have been others. You’ve been to the Velvet Room?” he asked Joker. When the boy nodded, he continued, “Igor mentioned previous guests, which would mean previous Wild Cards.” Yu noticed that Mona’s face screwed up in thought at that, with an expression like he was trying to remember something but couldn’t quite place it.

“What is ‘the Velvet Room’ and ‘Igor’?” Noir asked.

Joker answered before Yu could. “The Velvet Room is the place I go to switch around my Personas. Igor’s the master of that place,” he said.

Skull thought about that for a moment before his eyes widened in realization. “Ooooh,” he said, “so you mean those times when you stand in that corner and stare off into space, you’re actually going somewhere?” He pointed a thumb over his shoulder at the corner he meant, and Yu glanced that way. He didn’t see the blue door to the Velvet Room, but he hadn’t expected to. His need for it was long past.

Yu chose to answer the question in Joker’s stead. “Hard to tell if we actually go anywhere when we visit the Velvet Room. It’s not exactly a physical place. More like...oh, how does Igor describe it?” his voice dropped to a lower volume as he wondered aloud, his brow furrowed in thought as he tried to remember the exact words.

Joker offered them first. “A place between dreams and reality, mind and matter,” he intoned.

Yu beamed at him. “That’s it! Not quite real and not quite a dream, maybe in your mind and maybe a physical place. Strange but helpful,” he concluded, shrugging one shoulder. “...And very blue,” he added after a moment.

Everyone still looked confused, but there wasn’t much else to explain about the Velvet Room. In the lull in conversation, he looked around at the group, noting the various weapons they carried. His eyes stopped on Fox’s katana and he nodded to the boy, commenting, “Nice choice of weapon,” then slipped the long bag off his shoulder to pull out his own katana.

As Yu fixed the sheath onto his belt, Fox answered, “Thank you, though it was not a conscious choice.” At Yu’s puzzled look, he elaborated. “Like our masks, our weapons appeared when we awakened to our Personas.”

“That’s handy,” Yu commented. “That must make it easier for you, if you don’t have to sneak your weapons along with you every time.” _Like I did_ was the unspoken addition, as he folded up the thin bag and stuffed it in a pocket. He imagined it would be especially hard for Noir to sneak her large double-bladed axe anywhere.

“I kind of wish my friends and I had gotten cool outfits,” he continued. “The closest we had was this,” and pulled an old pair of glasses from the inside breast pocket of his blazer. He flicked them open, slipped them on, then looked around the room. As expected, nothing about his vision changed.

“How is that anything like a cool outfit?” Oracle asked, sounding almost indignant.

Yu shrugged. “I didn’t say it was cool, it’s just the closest we had to a team uniform. The place we used to go was filled with thick fog, and one of my friends made these,” he said, tapping one arm of the glasses, “which let us see through it. So we all had a pair, and we always wore them while fighting Shadows.”

Skull started to fidget at that. “Hey, speaking of fighting, can we get to it?” the blonde asked. “He looks ready to fight and I’m getting tired of talking. Let’s wreck some Shadows!” Yu had to stifle a chuckle at that. The boy reminded him of Kanji.

Joker laughed outright at his friend, then agreed, “Alright, come on everyone!” He led the group down one last escalator, and Yu followed to join them on the train platform below. 

There was a subtle change to this area. Yu thought for a moment that it was just a slight heavy feeling to the air, until he looked around again and noticed there was a small difference to the appearance of this part of the station: unlike the hall above, here and there were small dark patches that resembled a tangle of climbing vines. Or veins.

He was distracted from this mildly disturbing sight when Joker called out, “Mona, it’s all you!” and noticeably turned to watch Yu, that smirk tugging his lips again.

Yu only had a moment to wonder what he was watching for before Mona scurried into the tracks ahead of them. “Here we go! Traaaansform!” he declared, striking a pose. Then he did a backflip and, with a poof of smoke, turned into a bus.

Yu’s eyes grew wide at the sight. They’d mentioned before that Morgana turned into a bus, but they hadn’t said anything about the cat ears on top or the tail trailing off the back bumper. It was amazing how much those improved the vehicle. It was definitely at least 110% better than any car he’d ever seen before.

He stared in admiration for long enough that Noir tentatively asked, “Narukami-san?”

In a low, awed voice, Yu declared, “I have never realized how much I needed a car with cat ears until this moment.”

A round of laughter greeted his revelation, and Skull asked “Man, how obsessed with cats are you?”

“Completely addicted,” Yu replied in a dead serious tone. “If I don’t get to pet a cat at least twice a week, I start suffering withdrawal symptoms.”

Joker was grinning, apparently quite pleased with his reaction, before appearing to turn to business. “Alright. Mona, Noir and Fox, you’ll be starting on the front lines with me. Narukami, you’ll be hanging back with the reserve team for now. You can sub in a little later. That work for you?” he asked, one eyebrow quirked in a half-question, half-challenge.

As Yu nodded, recognizing the ease with which the leader was organizing his team, Skull spoke up. “You know, it’s gonna be weird calling him by his real name while the rest of us are using code names.” When the others looked at him quizzically, he shrugged and said, “Well I know he ain’t a Thief, but maybe we could give him a temporary code name?”

Even before Yu could ask “Thief?”, Panther hissed “Skull!” and punched the boy in the arm. 

“Ow!” he yelped, taking a stumbling step back, but half the group was glaring at him now. Yu raised one eyebrow. Clearly this wasn’t something he was supposed to know about. 

Joker diffused the situation by chuckling and stepping forward to stand between Yu and the other teens. “Well, since our resident loudmouth has already let it slip...” he began. This caused Skull to sputter, but he didn’t really have anything to refute it with.

Joker ignored him and faced Yu, his apparently trademark smirk on his face. “We,” he declared dramatically, flinging out his arms to indicate his teammates, “are the Phantom Thieves of Hearts!”

Yu smiled and politely applauded the performance. “Very nice. So I take it that those ‘changes of heart’ that the Phantom Thieves have been carrying out have something to do with Personas and Shadows, then?”

Joker dropped his hands and nodded. Yu couldn’t tell if he was disappointed at Yu’s reaction or not. “Yes, but the details will have to stay a trade secret,” the Thief told him.

“Fair enough,” Yu agreed. “So, back to Skull’s suggestion. I don’t mind using a temporary code name if you don’t.”

Joker shrugged. “Fine with me. Any ideas?” he asked the group.

“Hmm,” Panther said, looking him over. “Well we usually base the names off our Metaverse costumes, but he just looks like a normal guy. So...Normie?” she offered.

Fox immediately interjected, “That name is an offense on the very concept of elegance. I will not permit it.”

Noir piped up, “Well he does have the glasses, so maybe Glasses?”

Mona joined in, “Too plain. We need a name with a little more style than that,” alerting Yu to the fact that even as a bus, Mona could still talk.

“Then maybe Goggles?” Queen contributed. 

“He doesn’t have goggles, I have goggles,” refuted Oracle.

Skull snickered and said, “We could always call him Cat Boy, like Oracle does.”

At that, Yu lifted one hand in front of him, curled it like a paw, and said, “Nya.”

That got everyone to smile, with a few snorts of laughter thrown in. “Well how about you,” Joker asked Yu. “Any suggestions?”

“I actually think Cat Boy would be fun,” Yu said, bringing his other hand up to form another paw and tilting his head cutely. When nobody agreed with him, he sighed overdramatically in defeat and let his hands drop. He was actually serious, but it sounded like that wouldn’t fly. Then he put some actual thought to the question. “Well, you have a Joker and a Queen, and I summon Personas with cards, so if I run with the playing card motif, that would give me Ace, King or Jack to pick from…” he mused.

King reminded him of both “Kingpin” and the King’s Game, neither of which these kids needed to know about, nor did he want to remember. Ace would sound too much like bragging, and he didn’t want to show these kids up. Which left…

“How about Jack?” he offered. “Like the English phrase ‘jack of all trades.’”

Most of the group looked confused, and Skull asked, “Jack of what now?”

Panther actually answered before Yu could. “It means someone who’s skilled at a little bit of everything,” she said. Then she gave Yu a wicked smile and added, “Though the phrase usually goes ‘jack of all trades, master of none,’ meaning someone who can do a bit of everything but excels at nothing.”

“Hey,” Yu said, putting a hand to his chest and feigning a hurt look. “I’m a master of everything.”

...OK, so he wasn’t bragging any less. But at least Jack was more subtle.

Joker was grinning at him now, so at least he liked it. “Works for me.” He looked back over the group and was met with various nods and murmurs of agreement. “That’s settled then, you’ll be Jack for today. Now let’s get going,” he said, turning to get in the Mona bus.

Everyone piled in, with Joker taking the driver’s seat and Jack ending up in the back row. It took a bit of maneuvering to fit in with all their weapons, particularly since Jack wasn’t used to sitting while wearing a sword on his belt. Once they were all settled (with nobody using seat belts, since the seats seemed to lack them), they drove off along the train tracks.

It turned out there were many floors to this Mementos, and the deeper they got, the more twisted it looked. The first several floors held Shadows so weak that they fled at the sight of the group of Persona-users, allowing them to travel uninhibited for quite a distance. By the time they got to an area where the Shadows didn’t actively try to avoid them, they’d traveled through more floors than any one of the dungeons Jack and his friends had used to explore in the TV World.

Joker called, “Everyone, get ready!” which was Jack’s only warning before the Mona bus slammed into the nearest Shadow. All the Thieves immediately piled out of the vehicle (Jack was a bit slower, since he wasn’t expecting it) as the indistinct Shadow collapsed in on itself and split into three more recognizable forms. Jack was surprised to find they didn’t look like any of the Shadows he was used to, and in fact looked more like some of the Personas he’d used in the past.

The four Thieves that were designated for the front line wasted no time in taking on the Shadows. Their fighting style proved to be very flashy and mobile, with Joker being particularly acrobatic. It was actually quite fun to watch, but the Shadows posed little difficulty to the Thieves and were swiftly defeated. 

The group piled back in their ride and continued through the tunnels. Sometimes Joker would avoid the Shadows, but sometimes he’d ram into one, which started up another battle. After a few fights, Joker swapped Mona out and had Jack join the front lines. Having two combattants with the ability to switch their Personas to target the enemy’s weaknesses meant the battles concluded even quicker than before. It became a bit of an unspoken game to see which of the two of them could be the quickest to target a Shadow with the correct element of attack, though it had the unfortunate side effect that they frequently took out the Shadows before any of the other Thieves could even get a hit in.

“While this is fun, nobody else is getting any practice in,” Joker observed. “Jack, I’ll set you back in the reserves, and Panther will take your place.”

“You got it,” Jack agreed. It was a sound decision; he was basically doing this for fun, while they needed to stay sharp for their mission. It made sense for him to just observe unless they found themselves struggling.

And it was still entertaining just watching the nimble Thieves fighting. After one particularly acrobatic team maneuver involving backflips, high fives and lots of guns, Jack found himself applauding as the last Shadow disappeared.

“Very nice, impressively stylish with a good show of team dynamics. I’d rate it an 8.2,” he told them.

Mona looked up at him with confusion. “8.2? What do you mean?” he asked.

Noir put a finger to her cheek pensively and suggested, “Are you referring to how judges rate gymnastics performances, like at the Olympics?”

At Jack’s nod, Joker raised an eyebrow. “Oh? And what would it take to earn a perfect 10?”

There was a challenge in Jack’s smile as he answered, “I don’t know, what kind of maneuver do you think would be even more impressive?”

“I see…” Fox said, musing over this information. “In challenging us to consider both the appearance and effectiveness of our combat, it compels us to seek true beauty even in the midst of battle. Very well!” he declared, clenching his fist in resolve. “I shall not be bested in the pursuit of beauty, and shall throw my whole being into this endeavor!”

Jack was kind of taken aback by how intent the blue-haired boy was about the idea. The impassioned speech seemed to have riled up the other kids too, and now they were getting into the suggestion. So he just shrugged, let them run with it and played his part as the judge.

Now as they drove around, the kids chattered eagerly with each other, planning what kinds of combo attacks they could pull off. Joker switched people in and out of the front lines frequently as they all tried out different team plays. It wasn’t long before Jack found he liked the ones with Mona best. Like when Mona grabbed onto Panther’s whip, then she spun him around like she was winding up for a hammer throw before he let go in time to barrel through a stack of Shadows. Or when Queen boosted Mona high in the air so he could rain slingshot pellets on a Shadow before diving down saber-first to finish it off.

Eventually Oracle realized something. “Hey!” she shouted, stomping over to Jack and standing as tall as she could to try and sternly look him in in the face. (It didn’t work too well, since she was more than a full head shorter than him.) “You’ve been scoring Mona’s moves higher than anyone else!”

Jack had to smile at her. It was kind of cute how the diminutive girl was trying to look big and intimidating. “What gives you that idea?” he asked her.

Oracle huffed in annoyance and put her hands on her hips. “Don’t underestimate my powers of information-gathering. I’ve been keeping track, and you haven’t scored Mona any less than an 8. Some of the other moves have rated that high, but you’re definitely more critical with anyone who’s not Mona.”

Jack privately admitted that it was likely, though he hadn’t done so consciously. But it seemed more fun to poke at her a bit more than admit it. “Maybe he’s just the most stylish out of everyone,” he suggested.

“No way!” Oracle insisted. “Joker’s much cooler. We need an impartial judge, so I’m joining in the judging, too!”

Jack raised an eyebrow at her. “How are you impartial? You just admitted you’re biased towards Joker.”

Oracle opened her mouth to respond, but couldn’t immediately think of a comeback. Panther piped up instead. “Then I’ll join in! More judges mean everyone’s biases get canceled out, right?” She grinned and slung an arm over Fox’s shoulders. “You join in, too. You wouldn’t pass up a chance to give your opinions on how beautiful everyone’s attacks are, right?”

“But of course!” was his response. “There is nobody better suited to determining true beauty than I.”

In no time it was decided that everyone on the reserve team would join in the judging, and having a whole team of critics to impress spurred everyone to be even more creative. Jack even got to join in the fun of thinking up flashy attacks. Since the team had two kanata wielders, Jack and Fox pulled off the classic anime sword duel, where they rushed at a Shadow from opposite ends of the battlefield, shot by it in flash of blades, then slowly slipped their swords back in their sheaths before the Shadow burst apart from a multitude of previously-invisible sword cuts. (The move generally earned them points for style and execution, but was docked points for lack of originality.) Then there was the dramatic back-to-back team up that Jack called Dual Wild Card Beatdown. (Everyone liked the name, but thought the move itself lacked something.)

Everyone was cheerfully arguing over the scores from the latest battle when Oracle suddenly stiffened. “Wait! You guys hear that?” The group quickly fell silent, which allowed everyone to hear the sound of rattling chains echoing through the tunnels.

“Oh shit, it’s the Reaper!” Skull swore. Mona had already turned back into a bus, and everyone rushed to pile in. The sound hadn’t inspired quite the same terror in Jack as it did for the teens, so he was slower to move and slid into the car last.

“Oracle, which way to the nearest staircase?” Joker barked, gripping the wheel tightly.

The orange-haired girl touched a hand to the side of her goggles, and then a green glowing screen popped up in front of her, showing a map and other information. “Go straight and take the first left,” she instructed, and Joker slammed on the gas. As the bus peeled off down the tunnel, the sound of rattling chains got louder. Then Oracle yelped, “No wait, it’s heading that way! Turn around and go the other direction.”

Joker wrenched the bus into a hairpin turn, throwing everyone to one side of the vehicle. It skidded, nearly colliding into a wall, before it regained traction and they shot down the tunnel. “It’s blocking the path to the stairs going up, so we’ll have to find the ones going down,” Oracle informed them. “Try the second right up ahead.”

Joker followed her instructions as she tried to guide them to safely, skidding around the turns while the passengers tried to brace themselves. But before long they were racing down a straight passage, only for Joker to slam on the brakes when he saw a dead end ahead. He started to turn the car around, only for Oracle to cry out, “No! It’s cutting us off, there’s no way we can get past now.”

“Shit,” Joker cursed, gritting his teeth as he tried to think of a way out of this. “OK everyone-” he started to say, but Jack didn’t let him finish the thought.

“Hold up,” Jack interjected. “I got this.” He swung open the car door and stepped out, ignoring everyone’s cries of dismay.

“Jack, don’t you dare play hero,” Queen tried to insist, reaching out to grab for his sleeve. But he only sidestepped, smiled confidently back at the group and repeated, “Don’t worry, I got this.” The teens fell into an anxious silence as the grey-haired man stepped out in front of the bus. The rattling of chains grew loud and harsh as the Reaper came into view, racing down the hall towards him.

Without showing an ounce of fear or hesitation, Jack crushed a blue card, crying, “Come, Izanagi-no-Okami!” A tall Persona in a long, white coat appeared above him, and he flung out a hand towards the oncoming Reaper, shouting, “Myriad Truths!” The Persona mimicked the motion, and there was a brief feeling of pressure building in the air before three blinding explosions burst through his target in quick succession.

There were spots filling Jack’s vision from the sudden flashes of light, but he waited patiently as his vision cleared, ears ringing slightly from both the loud blasts and sudden silence. The stillness stretched on for a long moment as the air seemed to settle. Then even before he could see clearly, he heard Oracle saying, in a voice hoarse with disbelief, “It's...gone? Did he just one-shot the Reaper?!” Jack mused that perhaps her goggles protected her eyes, so she recovered faster than he did.

“Duuude, that was awesome!” Skull burst out, and the rest of the Thieves were quick to emphatically proclaim their own excitement. Jack turned around to see them all pour out of the car and rush towards him, chattering so quickly and loudly that he couldn’t make out a word. 

He found himself the center of an impromptu celebration, with various thieves hugging him, pounding cheerfully on his back or showing other displays of relief and affection. Mona, back in mascot form, was standing off to one side with his arms folded, nodding smugly. “I knew there was something special about him,” the creature insisted, causing Skull to snort derisively. 

“Yeah, like you had anything to do with him coming along,” the blond boy scoffed. The two quickly fell into an argument, which Jack tuned out as Panther threw an arm over his shoulders.

“Joker! He should totally be a Phantom Thief for real!” she declared, looking over at their leader. Jack followed her gaze to find that for once, the boy’s smirk was more companionable than cocky. It was a flattering idea, but using his ultimate Persona had reminded Jack of something. It was a lesson he’d learned long ago that he felt these teens could benefit from. 

So before Joker could say anything, Jack shook his head and slipped out from under Panther’s arm. “No, I couldn’t join you,” he said as he took a step back so he could look over every one of the group. “I’d only get in the way of your journey.” Everyone piped up with expressions of shock or denial, but he just held up one hand to forestall them, waiting silently with the expectant gaze of a teacher until they all fell silent.

When he was sure he had their undivided attention, Jack asked, “Are any of you familiar with tarot?” Most of them looked confused, either from the apparent change of subject or because they were unfamiliar with the word, but Jack was not surprised when Joker nodded. So he explained, “Tarot cards are sometimes used for fortune telling, but the tarot Arcana also relate to Personas.” 

“Uh, Arca-what?” Skull asked, rubbing his head and looking lost.

“Arcana,” Jack said patiently. “Within a deck of tarot cards there’s a subset of cards known as the Major Arcana. These cards each have a unique name, number and picture, starting with number 0, the Fool, and ending with 21, the World. Each card has a different meaning when used in fortune telling. And every Persona, and therefore every Persona-user, are represented by one of those Arcana.” He paused to look over the group, making sure they were all following his explanation before he continued. 

“The Fool represents the beginning of a journey, and endless possibilities. Which is why Persona-users of the Fool Arcana are Wild Cards, with the possibility to use many different Personas. Joker and I are both Fools,” he said, nodding to his fellow Wild Card and receiving a nod back. He half-expected at least one of the Thieves to react to the title that could be considered an insult or joke against him or their leader, but they all seemed to be too intent on listening where he was going with this.

“When you look at the Arcana in number order, from Fool to World, they tell the story of the Fool’s Journey. Each card is a different step on that journey, and the Fool needs to experience all of them in order to reach the World, which represents the understanding, wholeness and fulfillment that’s gained by completing the journey. 

“We Fools,” he said, indicating himself and Joker, “each have our own journey to undertake. I’ve already completed mine, which is why my initial Persona, Izanagi of the Fool Arcana, transformed into Izanagi-no-Okami of the World Arcana. I needed him in order to overcome the challenge at the end of my journey.” Here he paused, looking Joker in the eye to see if the young Wild Card saw where he was going with this.

After a moment, the Thief’s eyes narrowed as he said, “Are you saying that if you joined us, I wouldn’t be able to complete my journey?”

Jack nodded, satisfied that his point was getting across. “I’d inhibit your growth. Whatever you’re going through, you need to hone your own strength, find your own truth and develop your own bonds. If I got in the way of any of that, your whole journey could end in ruin.” For some reason Joker's eyes sharpened at that last word, and Jack wondered if it held some special significance for him.

Oracle fidgeted for a bit, kicking at the ground before tentatively asking, “So...are you saying you have to avoid us from now on?”

Jack’s face softened and he shook his head. “Not at all. We could still be friends, and maybe I could offer advice from time to time. But I can’t fight with you.” She seemed to relax slightly at that and nodded.

There was a somewhat awkward silence then, as everyone looked around at each other, not quite sure where to go from there. Eventually Jack offered, “We should probably get moving. I don’t think the Reaper will be back anytime soon, but it doesn’t stay dead. No need to tempt fate by standing around.” There were a variety of grimaces and agreements at that, and before long everyone was piled back in the bus. 

Despite their high spirits from not long ago, nobody felt much like fighting any more today, so they headed back towards the entrance of Mementos. After some more uneasy silence, Queen asked more about tarot Arcana, and they got a pleasant discussion going about the subject. Joker was able to identify which Arcana represented each of his teammates, and Jack could in turn give a rough description of what qualities those Arcanas represented. The conversation grew lively enough that by the time they got back to the entrance of Mementos, everyone was in a good mood again.

At the entrance, everyone stopped to say their farewells before leaving to go home. “It was great to meet you all,” Jack told the group. “Like I said before, I’d be happy to be friends with you all, and if you need help with anything that doesn’t relate to fighting Shadows, just give me a call.”

Skull grinned and clapped Jack on the shoulder companionably. “Man, you’re alright. As far as I’m concerned, you’re an honorary Phantom Thief.”

“Skull! You can’t just decide that on your own-” Queen started to scold, but Joker cut her off with a chuckle.

“Sure, why not, you can be an honorary Thief,” he told Jack. “You already have the code name, so we can just think of it as a nickname.”

Jack smiled and bowed formally to the leader, saying, “Then I will gladly accept this honor,” making several of the Thieves snort or giggle at him.

After a few more pleasantries, everyone exited the Metaverse, then split up to go their separate ways. As Yu turned to head for home, he heard a ping from his phone. He pulled it out to check the notification, and smiled when he saw he’d already been added to a group chat with the rest of the Thieves. While he couldn’t get involved with their work, he’d be happy to keep cheering them on until the young Fool’s journey was complete.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And then they had to make a special group chat dedicated solely to sharing cat pics, and Yu demanded the PT post pictures of Morgana as often as possible.
> 
> Special thanks to TheSneezingSOAB for the idea of Yu one-shotting the Reaper! When I thought of how everyone would react to that, I got the idea of Yu talking about the Fool's Journey and why he couldn't join them, and then I had to write that. Telling that scene was a good part of my motivation for finishing this fic.
> 
> Also, I realized that when I wrote the word "Arca-what?" that that line would be even better in Japanese, because it would be pronounced "Aruka-nani?" and I love wordplay.


End file.
